Gareth Liddiard’s top threeAustralian albums

Fri 18th Mar, 2011 in Features

When Gareth Liddiard was doing the media shuffle last year to promote his solo album Strange Tourist he explained his simple musical philosophy to FasterLouder over a late afternoon beer – “Make it authentic, make it weird and we’re off and racing”.

He nominated Television’s Marquee Moon as his ‘perfect’ rock and roll album – “can’t find anything in that bad” – but ahead of his national tour with Dan Kelly we asked Liddiard to tell us about his three favourite Australian albums and he wrote back to explain why Salmon, AC/DC and Roland S Howard are three of the best artists this battered country has ever produced.

Kim Salmon And STM – Hey Believer

When I was a young snapper I did all sorts of work at and for Kim Salmon shows. I was too young to drive a hire car but I had to drive the surrealists around ‘cause they were too drunk and their promoter hated that about them. No one told me about Tarago handbrakes so the van always stunk of fishy hot brake pads and I was henceforth mocked.

The Surrealists were amazing but STM was another story all together.
the band was made up of Kim, Warren [Ellis] and Jim [White] from the Dirty 3 and a double bass player called Andrew [Entsch] who died a long time ago. They only did one tour and made one album. One of the best bands I’ve ever seen live. And in true Australian fashion, no one gave a fuck because they weren’t from some other country run by white people.

AC/DC – Let There Be Rock

As far as guitar sounds go, you can’t really beat this recording. It’s intense. And interesting considering that everywhere except Australia they’re known as the biggest rock band ever. Bigger even than the Beatles and Pink Floyd. They didn’t do a lot of compromising considering. But they didn’t come from somewhere else that’s run by whites or something so forget that. And Rupert Murdoch and Julian Assange don’t run the planet right now either. And Peter Singer isn’t usually right about everything and Les Murray isn’t one of the greatest three or four living poets right now. Elsewhere in the west is always best, remember that. Pretend you’re them.

Rowland S Howard – Teenage Snuff Film

This is Rowland’s masterpiece. He was the greatest, most original guitarist Australia has ever had. On the break up of the band that brought him fame he went on to record 10 or so records solo and with various bands that were mostly overlooked. Probably because his original singer appealed more to record companies that needed to make a buck, though Rowland was always, at least, equally as good. You never see him on those “greatest Australian album” lists which is nuts. He’s not alone though, Rowland and Spencer P Jones are the most underrated songwriters on the planet. Everything on this record is perfecto, the tunes, guitar playing, production, Mick [Harvey], Brian [Hooper] and Rowland’s voice which was as jocular as it was jaundiced.

Gareth Liddiard and Dan Kelly March/April tour:

Friday 18th March – Brisbane Hotel, Hobart
Saturday 19th March – Mossvale Hotel, Mossvale
Wednesday 23rd March – The Maram , Canberra
Thursday 24th March – The Factory, Sydney
Friday 25th March – Lizzottes, Newcastle
Saturday 26th March – The Zoo, Brisbane
Sunday 27th March – The Clarendon House, Katoomba
Friday 1st April – Jive, Adelaide
Saturday 2nd April – The Bakery, Northbridge
Thursday 7th April – East Brunswick, Melbourne
Friday 8th April – East Brunswick, Melbourne
Saturday 9th April – The National Hotel, Geelong